Learning With Digital Media About the Chemistry Behind the Recycling of Digital Hardware

Abstract

Digitalizing the educational arena is a running process that got a new push due to the closing of schools and higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Germany, it is predictable that all school students will have their own tablets in the near future as digital learning tools are supported by a nationwide program called Digitalpakt Schule (in English: Digital Pact School). This development challenges education and curriculum development, but it also reinforces the question of proper recycling of the growing number of digital devices after their operation time is over—a challenge that was already acknowledged in the years before the pandemic. This chapter discusses potential issues and prospects of learning about the chemistry behind the recycling of digital devices via digital media and deals with the role of non-formal learning to support curriculum innovations in schools to encourage student learning. The chapter also deals with those students learning in less privileged environments and schools with limited resources for practical work. This approach—learning about recycling of electronic waste—contributes to the body of knowledge in chemistry education by bringing a new topic into the chemistry curriculum, and to evaluating new pathways for learning enriched by augmented and virtual reality.